Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin: NFL is a 'better deal' than college game for minority coaches

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Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin celebrates after a touchdown against Alabama during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin recently offered his advice to minority college football coaches and noted that he believes the NFL is a "better deal" for minority coaches than the college game, according to ESPN.com.

Sumlin spoke at a seminar put on by Advocates for Athletic Equity, formerly the Black Coaches Association, in his hometown of Indianapolis. Sumlin has previously taken part in similar gatherings designed to help increase minority coaching hires. When the University of Houston hired him in December of 2007, he became the first black head coach at a major Texas college football program, and A&M made him the school's first black football head coach in December 2011. Sumlin was born in Alabama, in the "colored" wing of a segregated hospital.

Other coaches such as Alabama's Nick Saban and the Cincinnati Bengals' Marvin Lewis took part in the gathering, as did influential figures such as Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez and agent Trace Armstrong, who is Sumlin's representative.

Sumlin and Charlie Strong, head of the Texas Longhorns, are two of only eight minority coaches leading "power five" programs. The ESPN report noted that according to the NCAA, just 10.7 percent of Division I coaches are ethnic minorities, excluding those at historically black institutions. About 57 percent of college football players are black.

The NCAA isn't allowed to offer a version of the NFL's Rooney Rule, which requires schools to interview minority candidates.

Sumlin's advice, according to ESPN, included:

-- Making unorthodox career decisions. As an Oklahoma Sooners assistant, Sumlin turned down a Pac-12 head-coaching job before landing at Houston. "Bob (Stoops) said, 'You're crazy.' I said, 'I can win at Houston,' " Sumlin said. Sumlin did, going 35-17 with the Cougars. According to ESPN, he also left his post as Minnesota's quarterbacks coach -- a position thought to have the most direct path to coordinator -- to coach wide receivers at Purdue. "There was a lot of pressure," Sumlin said. "I got phone calls from people saying, 'You can't do that.'"

-- On how some minority coaches shouldn't shun the recruiter label over being a more technical coach: "People talk about how you're black, and you want to be known as a technician," Sumlin said. "But the further you go up this thing -- do not stop recruiting."